The group of Jewish-American leaders has launched an online petition urging an end to Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and calling for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The petition is signed by dozens of prominent American rabbis, judges, writers, academics and philanthropists and replicates a European initiative launched by the European Jewish Call for Reason, or JCall.

JCall was launched in Europe in early May by public figures and intellectuals, such as Bernard-Henri Levy and Daniel Cohn-Bendit, in an effort to make a new Jewish voice heard “that is both committed to the state of Israel and critical of the current choices of its government.”

Europe’s JCall submitted a petition to the European Parliament earlier this month condemning Israel’s policy of establishing Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank and in Palestinian East Jerusalem. The American group’s petition cites and supports the same outline.

The petition argues that a two-state solution is crucial to Israel’s interest if it intends to remain both Jewish and democratic.

The US group endorses the Obama administration’s “vigorous encouragement of the parties to make the concessions necessary for negotiations to advance. In that context, we call upon Israel immediately to cease construction of housing in the disputed territories.”

The petition comes at a time of heated debate within the US Jewish community over the peace process and Jerusalem’s final status.

Earlier this month, President Obama met with writer Elie Wiesel, who had called on the president to ease pressure on Israel over the status of Jerusalem.

“Encouraged by the recent European ‘Call For Reason,’ signed by more than 5,200 Jewish citizens of European countries, we, American Jews passionately devoted to the safety and welfare of the State of Israel, now add our voices to those of our European kinsfolk,” the group’s petition reads.

“They recognize, as do we, that Israel faces existential threats, both from without and from within. We do not take these lightly, but we reject the view that they are Israel’s inevitable destiny.”

The American Jewish leaders go on to say that they categorically condemn terrorism, but at the same time, “we abhor the continuing occupation that has persisted for far too long; it cannot and should not be sustained.”

The American letter also calls on the Palestinians to forswear terrorism and their claim to a right of return. It calls on the Israelis to split sovereignty of Jerusalem and to “dismantle the settlements considered illegal under Israeli law.”

Americans for Peace Now, an American Jewish organization and J-Street, a liberal Jewish lobby, have both endorsed the petition and called on their supporters to sign it.